


The Playground

by RowanJay78



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Childhood, I'm Bad At Summaries, Playgrounds, Spiders, and since im a dumbass kinnie i just warped some kin mems, basically i wrote this for an english essay where we had to make a work called 'the playground', its not bad its just not good, no beta we die like gerard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:47:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29355936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowanJay78/pseuds/RowanJay78
Summary: Amélie always loved the shadows, but she never loved monsters, and she was sure that she never would.
Kudos: 5





	The Playground

**Author's Note:**

> hi !! this is my english essay work so i hope u like it !! (ill probably update the work with the mark i got for it lol)

Amélie liked to watch the shadows. It was on bright days like these where she would ditch the swingset, wandering around the middle of the playground, letting her arms swing and making little pictures in the dark. She spread her arms out wide, curved and sloped, her small hands just barely sticking out of her coat sleeves, and dragged her right foot along the floor, making half circles around her supporting leg. Every so often, she would steer too close to the rusted slide, or her toe would hit the edge of the climbing wall, and she’d try not to pay it any notice. 

When she found she was too tired to go on, she retreated into the cool shade, where she sat, shivering, her knees pulled up to her chest. The lack of the sun let the breeze take over, and though it was still and quiet, it felt like frost. Tucking her chin into the neck of the coat, she rubbed her hands together, her gloves picking up the friction. It was a fleeting sensation of warmth, but it was just enough. These shadows, the ones she could spend time under, were always calm and unmoving, and although it gave her some peace, she couldn’t help but find them boring, especially when there was no one to watch them with except from her mother, who stood on the other edge of the fence. She rarely saw other creatures here to disturb her, and other children were even rarer.

Despite the solitude, she found her energy had come back just enough to step into the sun once more. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she stood, preparing herself for the wave of heat that would surely come, but before she could continue, she stood face to face with something she least expected. It was dark and small, and she couldn’t focus her eyes on it at first, as it floated just between her eyes, and so she took a step back. In focus, it felt scarier than it had before. It had eight legs, around four too many, and each leg lifted and dropped as it walked through the air towards her. She couldn’t see any eyes, and even the body seemed almost nonexistent, and it made it all the more horrifying. Before she could collect her thoughts, she gave into instinct and screamed.

“Amélie!” 

It was like everything had just been a blur, until she heard a voice wake her from her trance. There were tears streaming down her face, and her nose was clogged and sniffly. Looking down at her hands, they shook, almost as if they were cold again, and through breaths she rubbed them together to make some kind of friction. Her chest rose smoothly, and then fell, stopping and starting again, almost like some kind of broken record. 

“Amélie, what’s wrong?” The voice was clearer to her now, and she looked up to the face of her mother, who held onto her shoulders, eyebrows furrowed. “Are you alright? Come here.” She felt arms wrap around her, pulling her closer to warmth.

“There was a monster…” She tried to explain, through hiccups and shaky breaths. “There was a monster and it wanted to hurt me, Mummy.” 

Her mother’s voice never faltered, and Amélie couldn’t quite understand. Wasn’t she scared? She’d seen her mother scared before, so why wasn’t she now? She could only conclude that she wasn’t thinking straight, that she’d eventually come around and see just how much danger they were in; that she’d take her far away from here and call the police to take it away. But, that didn’t happen.

“There’s no such thing as monsters, dearie.” She felt her mother ruffling the top of her head, her voice still calm and quiet. “Come on, breathe with me. In, and out.” She tried to follow along with what she said, but her voice blended into the background.

When she was calm, and everything had smoothened out, she began to talk again. “There was a monster. The ones with too many legs. It jumped in front of me and tried to hurt me.” She still felt her knees wobbling. “Please, Mummy, we have to go now. I don’t know where it is anymore.”

Her mother didn’t lead her out of the area like she wanted, instead staying crouched to meet Amélie’s level, shaking her head. “That’s a spider, poppet. It’s not going to hurt you. Remember, it’s just as scared of you as you are of it.”

“No they aren’t! Spiders are monsters,” she began, “they don’t feel  _ anything.  _ Gerard told me about them, that their hearts don’t beat, so they don’t feel happy or sad. They hurt people. I’m not a monster, so I’m not scary.” 

Her mother just chuckled, shaking her head. She didn’t understand her mother sometimes. “You can’t believe everything Gerard says. Spiders' hearts do beat, and they’re alive, just like you.”

She shook her head in response. She couldn’t believe her, and she wouldn’t. Spiders were definitely monsters, and maybe her mother couldn’t see that because she’d been around them too long. Wiping the dry tears from underneath her eyes, she tapped her blotchy cheeks, and moved out into the sun, her mother following up behind her. “I want to go home now.” This time, her mother did listen, and they walked out of the playground together, letting the park gate creak closed behind them. As the light shone down on her, she moved her hand out to look at her shadow, and recoiled. It was harder to enjoy them now, not when she knew what was lurking within them.

**Author's Note:**

> please tell me ur thoughts and feel free to criticise !!


End file.
